There is currently no market to recycle glass in this area. We hope that in the future we may be able to find a buyer for our glass. Also, glass intermixed with other recyclables causes large problems with separation at the MRFs.

Recyclable materials collected by the City curbside program (and the drop-off program) will be transferred to Western Recycling who will then bale the material and send it to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Portland.

An MRF is a Material Recovery Facility. These specialized, state-of-the-art recycling facilities process and sort recyclable materials. The facility contracting with Western Recycling is located in Portland, Oregon.

Belmont is no longer providing recycling services to residential customers. Belmont is focusing their resources on commercial customers. For Belmont, a commercial recycling program (businesses, agencies, etc.) means fewer recycling stops, larger volumes of material at each stop, and less gas expended.

Not initially because our program was voluntarily. However now that curbside recycling is a part of the City's standard garbage service our chances of operating in the black have greatly increased – since success requires large volumes of recycled commodities.

Because recycling saves natural resources. The national recycling rate of 30% saves the equivalent of more than 5 million gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels. Paper recycling saves up to 70% of the energy needed to create paper from new timber. Aluminum recycling saves up to 95% of the energy required to make new aluminum from raw ore (equivalent to filling the can 2/3 full of gasoline). Recycled paper uses 80% less water and produces 95% less air pollution than virgin paper production. Landfills last longer when recyclables are being diverted. Recycling creates far more jobs than do landfills or incinerators

Idaho’s abundance of land can be seen as both a blessing and a curse, when it comes to being stewards of the environment.

For example, the State of Idaho is one of few states that has no landfill diversion goals. Yet, the Department of Environmental Quality states, “As existing landfills fill up, it will be necessary to build new landfills, which are very expensive to construct. Higher disposal fees will be needed to cover the cost of building new landfills, which may tip the economic incentive to recycling and pollution prevention.”

Not only are we filling our landfills faster than necessary, but we’re spending money to bury valuable materials!